On a day when Montgomery's shooting went cold and Charles had early foul trouble, Hayes produced a career-high 28 points plus seven assists, five rebounds and no turnovers in a 77-53 win against No. 4 seed California (27-7). The Huskies (36-0) meet Arizona State, an 84-69 winner against Texas A&M, in Tuesday's regional final for a berth in the Final Four in St. Louis on April 5.

Sunday's game was practically a nail-biter for the Huskies, who fell behind 31-23 with 6:38 left in the half, the eight points representing their biggest deficit of the season. After shooting 11-for-19 in the first 13:22, Cal shot 6-for-37 and scored 22 points in the final 26:38. Ashley Walker, who had 16 points in the early going, made two of eight shots thereafter, scoring 21 points.

Hayes, a 5-11 guard, wrecked Cal's defensive plans. The Bears started in a triangle-and-two defense, focusing on Montgomery, who was 5-for-17 for 13 points, and Moore, who had 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting. Hayes, 5-for-15 (1-for-9 on threes) in the first two NCAA games, wasn't a priority.

"They decided to leave me wide open, and I just stepped up and knocked down the big shots," said Hayes, who was 9-for-10, including 5-for-6 from three-point range to force Cal out of its specialty defense.

Hayes, a lefty who was also effective on drives, became a starter in January when freshman Caroline Doty suffered a season-ending knee injury. "I think if Caroline would've not gotten hurt, we might only see glimpses of how good Tiffany is," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "She'd be content to be just that other guy who is pretty good."

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